The Passing of War
by Buckets8118stek
Summary: War. It was his sole friend in the end. So when the Headmaster of Beacon asked him to teach his tactic's to the next generation of Huntsman and Huntresses, how could he refuse to introduce them to his old friend?
1. The Meeting

**Edit AN: I highly recommend you read this chapter again due to the i _mmense_ edits I have made to it. Nothing much, just a good chunk of it getting thrown out a window into a lawnmower and replaced with far better reading material and content. Like, seriously, I read through this and realized that Ozpin's cane was floating when he was going to shake Astali's hand. Stupid one year old me is stupid.**

 **Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters and such other unannounced things.**

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" _Know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories."_

 **4 Sextilis, 3176 PD -C. Astali-**

I always wondered why Vale was so loud at night. The sounds of partying was dreadful and almost had the sound of artillery fire. A sound so distant yet so close, I may have thought it to be an everyday noise. But what was so attractive about dancing and yelling about nothing? I was used to moving to the music of an opera, or a waltz. After the numerous dances and banquets during the War, I was used to the sounds of choirs and orchestras. Not computer generated booms and crashes that Vale loved to produce. This newer generation of huntsman and huntresses could see me as an old soldier from an even older time that doesn't understand the appeal, and perhaps I am.

I guess I still wasn't used to the World after the Faunus Rights "Revolution", even if it ended eighteen years ago. After the trails of my crimes against the people of Mantle, which I miraculously got out unpunished, I felt... disconnected and uninformed of the world outside Atlas' slums. Only reliable information I ever got was from Father Verde or my team members. Only thing I cared about during my darker years was to get some veterans back on their feet, or at least the ones that weren't still fighting or hated me.

On both sides after the conflict groups popped up for separation or, even worse, eradication. The White Fang was proof of that, I suppose. But they didn't start fighting against humans until that damn woman in Mistral took control. An unbelievable affair that still caused me to have my more primal moments come out. Why Belladonna stepped down is beyond me, but the fact he didn't see this coming is more appalling. Damn fool deserves an eternity in hell for his ignorance of his fellow leaders. To make matters worse, his own daughter disappears not long after his resignation. Likely joined the new White Fang and got killed by some Atlesian Knights. About as dysfunctional as my family.

" _Always remember, my boy, the way to peace for this kingdom is the destruction of her enemies. Promise me that you will bring peace to this world no matter the cost. Will you, my son?_ "

Those words pushed their way into my mind at the thought of my family, and the many times my father either returned home to announce another medal he got or that he 'discovered' that he had a child with some whore. I was thankfully brought out of my thoughts by a shaking of the Bullhead and the pilot signalling me we had landed. I wasted no time in opening the door and stepping onto the landing pad of Beacon Academy. I observed my surroundings, noticing the garish light of Beacon Tower and the long walkway that lead there. Ozpin was known for his love of taking the time out of people's day. Looking at the buildings preceding the tower, the roofs of them prodding into the sky as if it were the sibling it wanted to annoy. The structures seemed more like the structure of a cultural establishment, something Atlas Academy would never be seen amongst. Another difference that I would have to adjust to.

The air in Vale was different, as well. Compared to the blizzards that plagued Atlas for most of the year, It felt warmer and welcoming. I didn't like it much, it was unnatural to me. I was trained to be at my most prepared and cautious at all times. This… air made me want to puke from its hospitable warmth and the carefree nature it presented. And to think Vale helped beat Atlas in the Great War.

I started fidgeting with my chest plates in the odd environment and attached my sheath to my left breast, making sure _Peacemonger_ was sheathed within. After confirming it was, I started my long, cautious, march towards the doorsteps of the great, if easily weak, structure that was Beacon Academy.

The pathway and its many branching variants were lined with a variety of marble and stone statues, either being made in honor of the huntsman and huntresses, or the ever prevailing idiocy that was the trend of modern 'art'. When I reached the doors leading into the school, I noticed one such piece with two huntsman atop a slab of stone, crushing a Beowolf under its weight. Atlas Academy had a similar piece, but far more graphic and realistic. I still wonder how they had made the stone have a resemblance to blood.

"A lovely piece, isn't it?"

I look back slightly to the man who invited me here walking towards me, his cane clinking against the pavement quietly. The bespectacled man soon stood next to me, his silver hair slightly unsettled by the night's wind.

"Beautiful, actually," I moved towards the piece, my hand reaching out and lightly stroking it. "It is expertly carved and represents, I feel, that the living are a crushing stone, weak to some elements, but can be an overwhelming force to others. But what do I know." I turned back, noticing him observe me with an intrigued eye.

I did the same, noticing the pictures I had seen of him over the ten years of teaching at Atlas were a mirror image of how he looked now. He was wearing a black suit over a black vest and green shirt, with black dress shoes and dark green pants. I found that the scarf and coffee cup was a bit much, but to each his own. It's not my fault if he wanted to be like the current generation.

"You must be Captain Cadec Astali, I had heard many things about you from both James and Layton," He seemed to notice my look of disdain at Ironwood's name and quickly stopped any attempt at insult. "Only good things from them both, I assure you."

I wasn't worried about Layton insulting me, man was far to forgiving to me for what I did. Hell, he would likely forgive a burglar trying to steal something from him if he didn't have Amanda to keep him in check. Ironwood was a different story altogether. That brute of a man was insufferable, stubborn to a resolve and was to forward in assaults. That's not even mentioning how showy he is with his robotics. The man was a dictator veiled under years of Council approval and support from the people. I suppose it also helps to have his own assassin haunting those that he deems a 'threat'.

"Ironwood? Praising me? I would laugh if I knew you weren't joking," Moving to shake his hand, I realized that he didn't have an available hand to shake with. Sheepishly, I lowered it back down and moved a little bit away from the statue. "And it's Colonel now, thank you." That sounded a tad bit rude, but the headmaster showed no sign of being taken aback. Then again, this is the headmaster of Beacon Academy, he likely has a neutral face for everything.

"Interesting, I've never seen anyone rise, fall, and rise again in Atlas' military." Even I must admit it is odd I was promoted again. Especially from such an insignificant thing as leading the Fifth Fire Brigade out of the Third Great Freezing six years ago. But I'm also the man that took the term "warming up the industrial heart" a little to literally in Mantle. I mean, who would have expected the former co-general of the Faunas Suppression Force to ever rise in rank again?

Mentally brushing aside the thoughts of the past, I began fidgeting with my chest plate again. An awful habit that I picked up from my partner during one of my rare missions. His was due to him not liking the armor, mine was due to silence and nothing to do or look at. After an excruciatingly long silence, I broke the quiet atmosphere with the reason I'm here. "So, would you like to discuss this proposal of yours? It was rather interesting to look at."

"I would hope so, it would be displeasing to hear that you weren't coming after what it took to convince the Council about this." He paused and took a small sip from his mug. He than looked at me with what I thought was sympathy for a minute before speaking again. "I had also worried about the hassle that James would give you," Another sip and pause. He turned to look at me fully this time, "There was only one supporter for this offer in the Council, but even he knew this was a gamble."

Someone supports me? In Vale's Council? I wonder how that conversation must of played out in their meeting about this. Poor man must have been very young and naive to do so. No way to help him now, must focus on the current rather than the foolish mistakes made. "James was no problem in the slightest, Headmaster. No hassle at all."

He lifted an eyebrow in an almost unbelieving look, taking a long swig from his cup before speaking. "I hope you are not offended when I say I do not fully believe that. We both know James is far to prying to let something like this be left alone." How observant of you Headmaster to not notice the obvious answer.

"The reason that he was no problem was because I left without his knowledge. He never knew of this arrangement we had set out." His smirk told me he found at least some amusement in that, but his eyes said the very thing we had met here to do. "You do realize that if I were to accept this deal there is a large chance that not only am I going to lose my rank in the military, but that your school will have a large target on it. That and my teaching can be a tad bit... overwhelming and traumatizing for some people to experience. I am a very imposing man after all, but my project also has something to do with that." At that last bit of information his eyes narrowed and his aura seemed to push against mine, the power behind it far greater than I had ever experienced.

The words he spoke told me just how dangerous Ozpin could be if I pushed him to far, "If your so called project endangers my students in anyway or if you bring unneeded threats to this academy, I will not hesitate to evict you from here. Am I understood, Cadec?" The calmness of it all made me blink several times and my brain to quit functioning for a minute. I don't doubt he would go through with his promise to me or even hesitate to kill me if he wanted to. The power from his aura alone...

I quickly collected myself and cleared my throat, "I understand completely, Headmaster. But do not worry, the project is a means for me, and occasionally the students themselves, to know who they are. Nothing more than that." The pressure on my aura subsided, a quiet breath of relief forcing its way out from the most threatening situation I could have possibly had in the last decade of my life. He looked over me with a cautious gaze, before returning to his mask of neutrality. I'll have to learn how to do that when I decide to get the apparatus off. "And, should the need arise, I will call one of my partner to watch. A pair of eyes will help nicely in making sure nothing gets out of hand."

"Excellent, does this mean you accept my offer? As I said, it would be disappointing to have you decline after all the work put into getting this approved." I swore there was some hope in his voice in the beginning, but I could easily be hearing things.

"I will gladly accept, Headmaster. Not only do I get a change in scenery, but I have the added bonus of spiting Ironwood as well. I only see positives in this arrangement." The man had his cane under his arm in seconds, his arm outstretched to shake my hand. With little hesitation, I grasped his hand and shook firmly, the man having a small smile. "Other than you possibly hurting me beyond functionality if I did something wrong, of course."

He chuckled a little, releasing my hand and grabbing his cane again. "Let us hope that it doesn't come to that." He slowly turned and faced the moon, which looked like it was slightly formed, with only a small part of the top being separate from the rest. Mirroring has action, we stood side by side as we looked at the damaged satellite glow its heavenly light. It always reminded me of the better days, before me and my team were split apart by the Revolution. My heart dropped as I remembered the fateful argument that resulted from my joining of the FSF.

Pushing the sadness aside, I decided that it was time for us to finish this meeting between us. "Shall we head to your office to finish our agreement? I would like to get the paperwork done as quickly as possible."

"Agreed, I have to look through all the students before they arrive next week for Initiation." He began walking towards the doors of the tower, followed by me without pause. He slowly came to a halt at the doors and seemed to look around the environment, as if searching for some hidden force. About to question him, he sighed and rubbed his eyes for a second. "Apologies, I had thought I saw something. Likely not enough sleep, on my part. Nothing some coffee couldn't solve." He took a long drink from his mug and smiled in content for a minute, before apologizing again and leading me into the building. What did he think he saw? A spy of some sort? What would one possibly want to achieve from stalking us from a distance, know Ozpin doesn't sleep enough?

Shaking my head, and with a silent chuckle, I continued to an elevator that Ozpin had stepped in. Who would possibly want to know anything from a meeting between a soldier and a headmaster?

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 **-?-**

"How peculiar..." I watched from one of my several Seers as it broadcasted the view of its twin. Resting atop my clasped hands, I watched with bored interest as the Colonel and Ozpin entered the tower. The meeting had been unexpected, the only reason I knew of it was the fact that one of my pawns got a hold of the letter that Ozpin, under the alias 'Grun Magier', had written to him. Even then, it took many comparisons to other letters from Ozpin to confirm it was his handwriting. A letter carried by pigeon was genius this day and age, it's easy to have it be lost among the many flocks and murders of birds. Losing sight of the set in the elevator, I snapped my figures for the Grimm to end and go dormant. I turned my chair and beckoned another towards me. Its dome slowly gained the image of someone with a clothe hood covering their head, a singular hole in the right side for them to see. There was no visible sight below the neck, but I had an idea of what was there. One of my pawns. She wasn't there it seemed, sadly.

They bowed before looking at me with subserved longing and complacency. "Where is young Cinder, if I may ask?" There seemed to be a small bit of fear and shame as they averted their gaze from me. Annoyance rose within me as the pawn did not answer. A small, shadow hand slowly lifted the pawns head to look at, panicing as it did so. "Now don't be quiet when asked a question, it's quite rude. Now, tell me where she is."

"The young mistress left to speak to the Torch about... Um... busnis?" The pawn, a female, said in a fearful and hesitant tone. The poor girl must have been a younger one by any indication of the lack of intelligent speech and pitch of voice. I will have a older pawn teach her how to speak civilly. She will do for now, however. "The young mistress said that she will return in... O-o-on... No, one! She said she will return in one hour!" She beamed at the success in finding her ability of memory and counting, while I ignored her pointless excitement.

"I see," That was odd of her to go to Torchwick personally, she despised every moment around him. I still couldn't see the overarching plan for Beacon including him surviving past the Breach we planned for. He was a nice distraction for my and Cinder's acolytes' activities to go unseen, but that was as useful as he was. I will have to convene with Salem to understand his value past the Breach. "Inform her upon her return to see me. I have something of interest to show her." The pawn bowed quickly before I made the Seer dormant.

Turning and facing the previous Seer, a snap brought it back to life and the image showed the distant doorway of the tower, the occupants likely discussing something trivial, such as pay or rules of being a teacher there. Rather dull things. It was going to be a long discussion, most likely, with as much small talk in between all that dullness.

Sighing, I leaned back in my rather comfortable chair and watched and waited as I settled in for another night of observation of the possible threats to the Queen.

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 **Author's Note:**

 **I was very reluctant to start writing for a while until I felt I was in a good enough position to start this little spark of an idea. I am looking forward to any feedback of any kind. Criticism, encouragement, or even a little bit of advice, this is my first story after all.**


	2. Introductions

**Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters and such other unannounced things.**

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" _Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die."_

 **7 Sextilis, 3176 PD -C. Astali-**

I sighed, finishing the fourth of the five packets of paperwork Ironwood _insisted_ I sign for my official resignation from Atlas Academy and, by extension, the Atlesian Military. He was a persistent twat, I'll admit, never ceasing to annoy and stress me out even when he wasn't my commanding officer anymore. It might also be my fault for not telling him about the meeting until yesterday.

Right in front of Specialists Schnee and Spectre.

That was an enjoyable couple of minutes of him being speechless in front of his subordinates, who both, assuming for Spectre's case, looked ready to attack me. In the end, Ironwood did something far worse than killing me. He gave me _Paperwork_.

' _One day, I am going to rip off your organic arm and beat you with it, James!'_ I thought violently, something I've been doing for the last few hours towards the cybernetic commander. I will admit the transition to Beacon was going smoothly, if time consuming. I wonder how the staff at Atlas was handling my departure. ' _They are most likely walking the halls without fearing my constant bickering over their ideals_ '

A growl escaped me as I remembered their bigoted ideals of "Separation for their own safety" towards the Faunus. Reminded me far to much of how I was justifying my campaign during the Revolution. Luckily, I was never required to associate with the other teachers unless absolutely necessary to one of my, or their, assignments to the students, a rarity in and of itself. If memory serves me right, I think I almost had to deal with Ironwood and his "elite squad", a fancy team for the privileged and arrogant gas bags he called honor students. Kissasses more like it.

I angrily threw the packet off my desk, a gift from a businessman in Mistral. It was intricately carved, the hutch having a battle, from the Third Holy Rapture I believe, engraved into it. A shame the man didn't tell me his name, he sounded like a refined sort of fellow. Pushing back my chair, I looked at my scroll and checked the time. ' _6:45, fifteen minutes until the students arrive. Damn you Ozpin and your half truths!'_

When Ozpin had told me during our conversation on what is expected of me as a teacher at Beacon, a point he emphasized greatly, the students' Initiation would be soon, I thought it was a week away. As it turns out, the students were arriving today, two days after that conversation, and I was still chained down by the damnable paperwork like a dog! I was getting tired of the hassle that was politics, something, I'm sure, many _actual_ military men would agree with me about. This was Aegis' sort of thing to do anyway.

As I got up from the abyss known as Ironwood's idiocy, I looked at the mirror next to the countless boxes of personal belongings and grimaced at the site of my condition. I had opted for my dress uniform for today, rather than the full body armor I wore to most places. Even though it wasn't a battle quality uniform, it looked like it could. It looked vaguely like the battle dress of the Atlesian military, but with a few major differences, the most noticeable ones being the several medals adorning my right breast of the dress coat and the red aiguillettes over my right shoulder. The least noticeable being that the dress coat had armor sowed into it, making it, theoretically, as strong as any regular Atlesian soldiers armor. But the main attraction was my helmet and faceplate. The red-tinted lenses flashed with a menacing glare; the skull-like mask covering my face gave my voice a subtle filter, sounding almost like I was speaking over a radio. The helmet that the faceplate was attached to had the mandible-like edges almost convene at the chin of the apparatus, the top of the helmet being like the top of a hexagon. My family crest, a hawk holding a rifle in one talon and a longsword in the other, was proudly stamped into the sides of the helmet. the armor pieces were apparently shaped to look like the helms of Queen Helios' Kopfe von Tod, one of the many elite knight regiments during her reign. I don't enjoy wearing the thing, but I'd prefer not looking at the murderer behind it. The brooding that was encroaching upon me was thankfully interrupted by my scroll buzzing in my coat pocket, but the thankfulness was quickly replaced by

' _God, if this is the payment for the sins I have committed, then grant me peace for a day, at least.'_ I prayed for the third time in the last thirty minutes. Pulling out my scroll once again, I pulled out my scroll as sluggishly as possible. ' _Ozpin wants me to be there to greet the students with the other teachers.'_ Not the best choice in my personal opinion, as I don't have the most... comforting appearance, but if that is his wish so be it. ' _And to go to the teachers lounge to introduce myself to them... I suppose that can be done.'_ At least they know about me being here, the students and their parents likely won't have heard yet. I hope. Sighing, I looked at my messages one last time before putting my scroll back in my coat pocket.

' _I wonder what the my colleagues will be like. They must be powerful huntsman if they are being allowed to teach at this academy.'_ Quickly checking if my uniform was properly adjusted, I began my walk towards the teachers lounge. ' _I look forward to meeting them.'_

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Why was my eye twitching so damn much, I couldn't really think much on it because I was trying to ignore the green blur and the walrus man's constant arguing over why caffeinated coffee was superior to decaffeinated coffee. The only silent ones being the one they call Goodwitch and a pink haired woman that I believe was known as Peach, but I didn't dare interact with the stern and crazy. Goodwitch seemed to be rubbing her temples from a likely growing headache, whilst mumbling about Ozpin being an idiot for hiring the two. While the pink haired one seemed to be… hiding and doing some form of work on her scroll. Meanwhile, I stood apart from the four, my head against the wall as I contemplated if a prison in Vacuo was still available.

While I was trying to find the possible errors and any people who could have rigged my trial in favor of a non-guilty plea, I made one fatal mistake. I didn't pay attention to the now very quiet room. Or the loud footsteps originating from the finely dressed walrus.

"Why hello, my boy!" I was awoken from my detective work by a loud, boastful voice and a _hard_ slap on the back, "I hope me and Barty didn't scare you from any conversation you wished from one of us!" He cheerfully continued, failing to notice my head hitting the wall over and over again. Sadly, the helmet was keeping all the damage contained to the wall.

' _Of all the times I decided not to take Peacemonger or Warmaker with me, I have to deal with the worst battle of my life. A walrus man with a megaphone powered voice.'_ How has Goodwitch, as I'm assuming from the past five minutes of her mumbling that she's been here for a while, put up with these two for so long? Is her semblance the ability to nullify stress? I must know her secrets. No matter the co-

"Are you still there, my boy?"

' _Dammit! I thought ignoring a conversation made the person leave, not persist!'_ I took several calming breaths and stopped using my head as a battering ram, before turning around and standing at my full height, easily dwarfing the walrus by leagues.

"Yes, I am still here, but I was trying to do something before you interrupted," I say with _very_ audible annoyance, walking towards the staff room door, the only hope of escaping the hell that I had voluntarily joined. "Now if you would excuse me, I am going out to the courtyard to get some fresh air. Alone." A messy lie, but the walrus' brain didn't seem that large, unlike his stomache. I will applaud him for his outstanding mustache, however. Almost makes me want to take my helmet off and let mine free. Humoring him, however, is not my goal.

"But I was about to retell my journey of defeating a King Naga with nothing more than my shirt and a cassette tape!" He said, eliciting an audible groan from the staff present, "And you have that breathing mask! You don't need to go outside for fresh air!"

We stood there for several awkward moments, His bushy eyebrow poking up in confidence. If only he could see the glare I was giving his soul right now. The only sounds that went about the room were that of the occasional sip from the green blur's thermos and the tapping of the the pink ones fingers on her scroll. "I hope you realize that I hate you with every fiber of my being." I finally said, slipping out of the room to the sound of Walrus man's pleas and quickly closed the door behind me.

I let out a few slow breathes, letting it calm my frayed nerves. After a few more moments of collecting my thoughts, the faint noise of doors opening came from further down the hall. Choosing not to deal with students, by which I mean scare them, I began walking in the opposite direction to where, I hoped, would be another set of doors. ' _This year is looking to be a very frustrating year._ '

* * *

 **-?-**

I took another sip of my beer as I read through the latest report on my phone from my informants in the government, laughing as I thought about how easy it was to get them hired. Lowly secretaries didn't care why I wanted them to give me information, just as long as I kept giving them a steady source of lien. It was amusing really how stupid they were, to never realize that while they were worrying about that entire Astali business, I was getting fed every opinion, secret, conversation from the inside. Priceless!

…

Maybe I'm enjoying this a bit to much. Looking at my beer for a minute, then looking at the four others I had, I decided I've had a bit too much to drink as well.

Putting my beer down and throwing my scroll on my couch, I went over to my kitchen to look for my lunch. Opening the fridge, all that was there was some more beer bottles and leftover lasagna from yesterday. Running my hand over my face, I took out the leftovers and got out a plate. Gods, hated this low profile bullshit that Magenta suggested. Why a crap apartment in the slums? Why couldn't I live in a condo or something? Most guys wouldn't suspect a guy in a condo, right?

Before I could get some lasagna scooped onto my plate, someone started knocking.

Groaning, put my plate down on my counter. I swear to the Gods, if it's that old hag that keeps asking me if I know where here cat is again…

"What is it? I was just about to eat…" I stopped myself the minute I opened the door and saw who was behind it. Standing in front of me was a man that was easily taller than 7 feet, and was hunched over due to that height. He had a old fashioned look to him, with a frock coat covering a tie and waistcoat, a dress shirt, pants, and shoes, with a top hat and a long cloak. A decorated cane was held in hand, with the images of Grimm seeming to climb from the bottom of it to its very top. The top seemed to have larger, claw like hands forming the top of the cane, the hands cupped in a sphere shape. In short, the man looked like Death personified.

"Am I interrupting something, Mr. Verde?" His voice was deep, and sounded refined and sophisticated beyond all measures. But there was a hint of malice and contempt as well. He was an all around douche, too, but I wasn't going to say that to his face.

"N-N-No No! Of course not, Sir Bealdor! I was just... Um..." He leaned in close to my face as he approached me, making me reflexively step away from him as his face, which was barely visible safe for his almost glowing yellow eyes, was mere inches away from me, "C-Can I have some space, please?" The yellow orbs seemed to continue to bore into my very core, and I swear I could _feel_ them doing it too, before making a 'tch' sound and leaning away from me.

"Very well, but I'm not here to simply antagonize you. This time, anyways." A chair from the corner of the apartment was pushed towards the center, where Bealdor sat down and crossed a leg over another. A clapped twice and I felt myself collapse into a second chair that was pushed into me, freaking me out endlessly. "I'm here for information on a quite infamous quarry of mine."

I perked up at that, "I can do that." I grabbed my laptop from the coffee table and began starting it up, "Who is it? A politician? Civilian?"

He chuckled for a second before folding his hands, putting them on his more prevailing knee. "Military, in actuality. A Colonel Cadec Astali." I looked over my screen for a second before looking back down and going to the military subsection of my intel.

"I'm going to send it over to your butler so you can look at it whenever you want, where ever you want." He made a noise of confirmation before standing back up and walking back over to the door. "Is there anything else you'd like me to do, maybe?" If I remember from my talk from Sorriso before coming here, was that the guy liked being asked if you could do anything else for him. Sounds like a thing a psychopath like Bealdor would get off on, but as long as I get to live longer around this guy...

Bealdor retrieved a orange USB drive from within his coat tossing it to me. I caught it barely, and kept it as close to my chest in fear of what would happen if even a scratch got on it. "I need you to find a way to get this installed into the Beacon camera systems tonight." He opened the door to my apartment and hunched over as he got past the doorway, but stopped there, "And I mean it when I say _tonight_."

I gulped at the obvious threat, an nodded like a little kid who just got in trouble. A chuckle emanated from him before the door closed behind him, seemingly on its own. I let out a breath I didn't know I had kept in before closing my laptop.

"I fucking hate this job..."

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 **Edit AN: I have way to much fun writing Bealdor. That's all I'm going to say on that. Honestly.**


	3. Helpful Assistance

**Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.**

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" _The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."_

 **7 Sextilis, 3176 PD -C. Astali-**

The Headmaster had to be insane. He had to. No one would hire that bulbous idiot, not even in a desperate need of teachers. I felt pity for those that would be assigned to his classes. Not really, but the effort should still be put forth.

Not to long after I had walked out of the room, I heard an explosive discharge from what sounded like the courtyard. Instinctively reaching towards my chest, I soon growled at my apparent lack of preparedness for an assault on the school, ' _You fool! You just had to not carry one of your weapons for this kind of situation!'_ I berate myself for the problem that I had put myself in.

Quickly running towards the doors that lead to the courtyard, I passed a few students that gave me startled and bewildered looks. Deciding to ignore the simple fact that they were not going to the amphitheatre _or_ the point of attack. The children better not act like this in my class. They would regret their slow, or their lack of, a reaction when I perform one of my many "surprises".

After opening the door, I practically leap down the stairs and head to one of the many pathways that lead to the center of the yard. After a couple of seconds of getting past the many students that were looking for the entrance, I notice a boy with a hoodie and blonde hair going in the complete opposite direction of the student body. He seemed to have noticed the explosion as well, looking around with a look of uncertainty, likely contemplating if he should follow his peers or investigate the sound.

Running up to him, I grab his shoulder and turn him around. "Child! I need your assistance wi-"

I was promptly interrupted by the boy letting out a small scream and fainting, falling onto his back with a clanking _thud_. Sighing, I look him up and down, noticing the little armor he has on, for a weapon. Seeing a sword at his waist, I unsheathe it from its plain cover. Examining the sword, I see that it looks more like an antique sword you would see in a pawn shop. The only notable aspect of it was the gold crossguard and blue handle. I quickly return to the task at hand and advance towards my objective.

I stop as a white haired girl in an elegant(?) combat skirt storms past me, rage clearly evident on her face. A moment later, a black haired girl with a neatly tied bow walks past me, giving me a glance from her book before she continued reading. Blinking several times from the perplexing state of the two girls, looking like they had just come out of a high school comedy, and that there was no damage to the center of the courtyard, I realize that this school was very much going to be the most stressful, if not deadly, job I've had since being a captain in the Revolution.

After my worrying revelation, my eyes latch on to an even more peculiar sight, a much smaller girl in a red cloak laying on the ground, with a _very big_ gun hanging from the small of her back.

Approaching cautiously, prepared for something else to happen at this damned school. If _this_ becomes a recurring theme here, I may very well make Ozpin drown in his beloved coffee. Scratch that, he'd probably like that. Maybe I'll choke him out with his cane? No, Goodwitch looks like she'd have already tried that. _'Layton would know what to do at this moment, he always had a-'_

"C-can I have m-my sword b-back?"

Stopping due to the terror stricken voices interruption, I quickly hit myself in the head. ' _What's with interruptions and Beacon? It's almost like this place doesn't want me to finish a simple thought!'_

I turned to the source of the voice, seeing that it was the blonde boy that fainted. I examine him more closely, much to his chagrin and my amusement. Very little armor, as I had noticed before, torn blue jeans, a black hoodie, and brown, fingerless gloves. In my opinion, he looked more like a homeless man who was able to sneak his way onto the airship here.

"S-sir?"

Shaking my head of the insults that I could spout, I flip the sword so that the grip is facing him. He quickly takes it from me and, with an almost tender movement, returns the blade to its rightful place. "I apologize, young sir. I had to borrow your blade for the potential danger that you must have heard, correct?" He nods, if a little hesitantly, "But I digress, I wasn't able to ask you your name after you fainted from, I'm going to guess, dehydration. So allow me to introduce myself. I am Cadoc Atsali, former teacher and Colonel of Atlas. I am also going to be one of the teachers here. And who might you be?" I finish, seeing his eyes widen from my introduction.

"I-I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc." He says, looking a little sheepish once he realized what I had said, "Some huntsman I'm going to be if I keep fainting under press- I mean forgetting to drink my… water?"

Letting out a small chuckle from his poor attempt at a recovery, I pat him on the back slightly, " Do not worry, sir Arc. I know plenty of soldiers and huntsmen that faint in the midst of danger."

A spark of relief appears in his eyes. "Really?" He asks hopefully.

"No." I pause to relish in his downtrodden state, "Now, let us retrieve this young madam and get you lot to the amphitheatre. I believe Ozpin would like to give a speech to his future students."

' _This Jaune fellow had better improve being under pressure, or he may very well have a stroke from my "surprises'_ I thought, a smirk playing along my features from the mere fun I am going to have with my students.

So Much Fun.


	4. Struck Twice

**Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.**

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" _Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood."_

 **7 Sextilis, 3176 PD -C. Astali-**

I waited as Sir Arc finished has introductions, not wanting the young Madam to have me as her first "friendly" face to be greeted by. Putting my left hand behind my back I started walking towards them. I'm glad Sir Arc had the idea, quite honestly. I mean, who wants me of all people to be a friendly face?

Nearing them, I cleared my throat to get her attention, "Hello Mad-...?!"

I was interrupted by her screaming and shooting me.

In the head.

' _Somehow this is a better reaction to me than Arc's, if that's any consolation.'_

As I started drifting to unconsciousness, I at least had the comforting thought that Sir Arc would, hopefully, get me to a medic. Then again, this is Beacon and its confusing paths I'm talking about.

Dammit.

* * *

I flinched as more bandages were applied to my gunshot wound, thankfully the "precautionary" one that Madam Rose had put in my stomach after I had hit the ground. On the bright side, she knew that you should always shoot the enemy twice in case they're not dead. Splendid.

' _I am going to give you a black eye for giving me the job, Ozpin!'_

It was my fault for accepting it, but I'll save giving myself a black eye for _after_ the mask can came off. Or I'll just give Ozpin a second one. That works, too.

Getting up, I carefully started to put my dress shirt on. Ignoring the bits of machinery that was what my lungs had become and the cause of the mask, I started walking towards the door after grabbing my medication pouch. The medication was something to use when my blood pressure was to far up, meaning every other hour, and was _maybe_ not prescribed to me.

Ozpin and everyone else doesn't need to know the last bit, though.

As I started getting my armor on, I put everything else over my shoulder, not wanting to reattach everything at the moment. After all, I don't want to miss Ozpin's speech. And to make sure I can tell Madam Rose I am fine, people as young as her tend to get guilt struck after hurting someone. Especially if you shoot one of your teachers in the head.

' _I'm amazed my helmet withstood a .50 caliber round. Thank you, Layton'_ I thought, silently thanking my former teammate and his company for making better equipment than Atlas.

After rounding another corner, I was confronted by something that was almost terrifying to me.

A wild, tuskless, walrus man.

"Hello again, my friend! I almost thought I wouldn't find you!" Greeted the portly man, walking over to me with his moustache moving with every word he spoke. I almost ran if it weren't for how he said the greeting.

"Thought? Were you looking for me?" I asked, perturbed by his enthusiasm and good spirited nature.

"Why yes indeed!" He replied, turning and motioning happily for me to follow, "Ozpin sent me here to show you the way to the auditorium!"

"Auditorium? It is clearly an ampitheatre." I said scornfully, "That would be like mistaking a warthog for a puma."

He ignored me and kept walking as though I hadn't just corrected him. "Three lien says you're wrong!" He said, stopping at a pair of doors.

"Deal."

I immediately regretted my decision when I saw a gleam of excitement appear in his eyes, as if a predator had caught his prey. Or in this case, a walrus catching a fish.

Opening the doors, I noticed the lack of a sloped surface that ended at a flat stage, just a lot of students. Dammit.

Sighing, I started rummaging through my pocket for the lien, "Here you go… What's your name?"

"Port, and might I ask yours?"

"Astali." I said, handing him the lien as I was about to make my way towards the stage. I was then stopped by a meaty hand grasping my shoulder. Disgusting.

"Slow down, my friend! Ozpin wants the staff to watch the students to insure they listen and not get out of hand!" Taking away his hand from my shoulder, he walked towards a group of boys that were getting a little rough. One even looked ready to pull out one of his revolvers on a smug looking bastard.

Sighing for what felt like the tenth time today, I started to walk down the aisles in between the students, my left hand tapping on the small of my back. Looking over the crowd of children, I realized a very important thing. I have to watch all of their Initiation videos and read their .

While looking through my future students, I noticed a particular red cloak standing beside a taller blonde. If I was to take an educated guess, I would say that is a she. Not a Jaune Arc. Not necessarily a bad thing, per towards her, I made sure to retract my eye lenses to the side of my helmet.

' _It's probably the eyes that terrifies them, it has to be.'_

As I walked up to her, I heard the blonde girl talking to her about something involving explosions. Ignoring the earlier occurrence of today, I saw she had noticed me and waved happily at me. She seems as though she's such a pure soul, I'll be sure to go easy on here with the Experiment.

"Hello again Madam Rose," I said, making her friend to turn towards me, "I see you're already making n-"

I was, for the second time today might I add, hit in the face by something hard. This object was the blonde one's fist hitting me. In the eye.

I hate you Ozpin.

I really Gods damn hate you.


	5. A Friendly Chat

**Happy New Year's everyone! I'm back now and will hopefully not go on a break that long again. Hope you all had an excellent holiday season and hope you an amazing New Year's! Here's a little late Christmas, Honaku, etc. gift and hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.**

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" _To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."_

 **7 Sextilis, 3176 PD -C. Astali-**

At least the blonde one didn't scream when she saw me, or I think she didn't. I couldn't really tell after she sent me skidding across the ground, luckily still on my feet. If it weren't for the events of today, I wouldn't have had my aura fully up.

Stopping myself by grabbing two students, throwing them to the ground with the force of my stop. Ignoring their curses at me, I readjusted my lopsided helmet and walked towards the two teens.

' _I really hope this doesn't become a regular thing in this school, never had to worry about this back at Atlas.'_

Then again, Atlas was more like a military complex more than anything. Unlike this more open, less strict complex that Beacon has built itself as.

Ignoring the headache I had gained, I saw Madam Rose making wild hand gestures in my direction and yelling at the blonde, likely explaining that she just punched a teacher. Or saying she just killed the undead. Depends what the medical staff told her and Sir Arc when they dropped me off back at the clinic. Then again, she did wave at me.

The blonde turned towards me, her hair hitting Rose in the face with the sudden movement, and looked at me with a, terrifyingly, joyful expression.

"Sorry about that, teach!" she said cheerfully, sheepishly scratching her head, "You sort of caught me off guard." How was she so cheerful about this? She's acting like this is a common thing. Well, maybe it is to her.

' _Now that I think about it, she reminds me of Team FNKI'_

Shuddering at the mere thought of Atlas' most garish team, and dispelling the memory of having the _pleasure_ of disciplining them once, I took out a syringe from my pocket and injected it. With my pain now dulling to below minimal and my heart calming down, I put one of my hands behind my back and lightly bowed to the blonde adolescent, "It is quite alright, I have experienced far worse than a punch. If anything, you only gave me a slight headache." It is true, I've had far worse experiences as a hunter and, by extension, soldier.

The blonde woman was bright and cheerful, her lilac eyes, however, showed a slight bit of challenge, likely a side effect of our 'introduction'. What interested me were her bracelets. Though they were well disguised, looking closely at them showed the barrel of a gun in between her knuckles. The only other person I knew that would even _think_ about fighting Grimm and skilled combatants with Aura in hand to hand would be my vulgar teammate Adolf Blass, the man saying he doesn't like using weapons and wanting to 'get to know' his opponent. I'm still perplexed that he became our team leader, much less still alive. Probably him staying close to Layton so much, the two almost as inseparable as conjoined twins.

This girl was different. She had a power that was as powerful as a burning flame, something I had experienced personally. I would need to watch this one closely, especially during the experiment. She could be a hazard if I did her concoction wrong.

"Sooooo, what are you doing over here?" She said, bluntly might I add, having moved closer to me while I was in my thoughts, "I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I'm just wondering why you aren't up there with the other teachers."

"I am simply here to tell Madam Rose that I am well and alive," I said, nodding in Rose's direction. Her response was a bright and relieved smile at me. "And the teachers were told to stay off the stage and monitor the students." I said, noticing the confused look she gave me.

"Then why are there a bunch of people up there?"

I turned towards the stage, and soon felt a rush of anger and embarrassment. Standing on the stage, albit farther in the back, stood the teaching body, some conversing while others watched the crowd. I was, however, looking at someone in particular.

Port was standing there, looking at me with, what I assume was, an amused look. Then he nodded at me. It wasn't something between two random people, but a nod from a friend. And I absolutely hated it. He was gutsy, he gets points for that, but he tricked _me_. And I don't take kindly to that.

Not. One. Bit.

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," I said outloud, noticing some of the students moving away from me, the blonde and Rose looking at me confusingly. I began walking away, but stopped myself from moving forward. I moved back to the blonde quickly, offering my hand to her. "My apologies we were not properly introduced. My name is Cadoc Astali, former colonel, now one of the professors here. Who might you be?" I asked hurriedly.

Seeming to have caught her off guard with my sudden reappearance, she slowly took my hand, "Yang Xiao Long." she said in an almost cautious tone, "What was that about…?"

"No time. Must leave." I released her hand and turned back around, quickly advancing towards the stage.

I don't care how small he may have outwitted me, or bested me, or defeated me. It was the fact that Peter Port was the one who did it. Now I've caused many fights over a lose before, Layton and Adolf saying I was short tempered and a sore loser over everything. My partner didn't participate in these attacks on me, but he really didn't help the situation either. That damn smile of his always infuriated and freaked me out.

My peers will likely see this as an overreaction, but I could ignore them. I've done it before, after all.

As I started climbing the stage, I sighted my prey talking with the tall and lanky man back in the lounge, laughing at something he had said. Or something he himself had said. Or possibly he just laughed because he wanted to. The little I have seen of him made waves with how I viewed this man.

Before I could even start approaching the group, my scroll started vibrating within my pocket. Taking it out and opening it, the caller id was one I had dreaded of seeing when I was hired as the new professor. The caller was Adolf Blass, my team leader and the biggest thorn in my side ever since my enrollment at Haven all those many years ago.

I took off my helmet and answered the call, putting it to my undamaged ear. Immediately, I heard gunfire and what sounded like a muffled explosion over the shouts of multiple men and women. Moving the scroll away from the sudden noises, a pained growl following the movement, before I answered.

"Hello Adolf, what gives me the pleasure of hearing your forever benevolent voice?" I said, every word coming out with a mix of annoyance and sarcasm, "Because I am currently on the way to a _very_ important meeting and you know full well I do not like being interrupted." May as well add in a threat, I don't have time for his talks with me.

"Oh come on Cad, why the snarkiness? I thought we were the bestest friends forever. Besi-" he paused and an audible snap and yell came over the speaker, "Besides, last time I interrupted one of your little 'meetings', I turned your ego into a walkover rug and made your body look like a bad S&M experience. Minus the sex." I heard him shout something inaudible and more gunfire burst forth. He mumbled something about stupid animals and, I think, spit on the ground. It's very hard to tell with just sounds over a speaker.

Choosing to ignore the second part of his response of what he said out of fear of what else he might say, I started massaging my temples, "First, We are teammates. I am forced to be in some form of friendly terms with you for the sake of our team. And second, what are you calling for? You are clearly busy with something else at the moment." I hope he hasn't caused another bar turned gun fight. He is surprisingly good at doing that.

"Just a little raid on the White Fang and all, nothing important. Layton had me join in this one for some reason. I suspect treachery is at hand," You'd think he was being serious to, with how neutral his voice sounded. Adolf had a knack for that. It had gotten him into plenty of fights with everyone, from Faunus to Human to Teammate. Usual twat material, really. "But imagine my surprise when I heard that Cadoc Astali, the Butcher of Mantle and the Savior of the Fifth Battalion, was hired on as one of Beacon's new teachers. I thought you hated Beacon. You already had trouble with Haven, and Gods now how you feel about Shade. By this point, I'm amazed you haven't said 'I hate life and its ever expanding despair'!" his voice gained a bit of angst at the end, before he chuckled to himself. He then exclaimed loudly and cursed, someone yelling a muffled traitor before I heard a soft crunch and a thud. "Now I know how you felt during the Revolution. Did we always do this? The Faunus side I mean."

"All the time. In fact, before Layton took control of your forces they always charged when they were confident they had won."

"Shit, I feel bad now. When I get over there I'll be sure to give you a big kiss in apology."

"Please don't." Then the realization of the first half of his sentence dawned on me, "Wait, what do you mean by 'When I get over there'?"

"Well, with the Vytal Festival coming up and the ever growing emptiness in my life without your every joyful personality," His snideness was like a wall of cement, mixed with some iron and steel. It was always hard to have a serious conversation with him, it was like playing a game of chicken with an actual chicken that had lost its head. "I have decided to come over and be your unofficial assistant until Layton gets here, which should be by the time all the other schools students get here. As with Alistair, He'll probs be dropping by whenever he feels like it, so be ready for that." At the mention of my partner, I realized I hadn't put in my usual defences from his sudden appearances. Those would have to be put in the minute Initiations started.

Groaning from the sheer amount of things I would have to have done, and having forgotten why I was angry, I walked towards the other teachers, "Actually, when you do get here I have some paperwork that needs to be done, so if you wouldn't mind…"

"Stop right there, I am not going to do that. Knowing you, it's probably out the window by this point. Maybe with a desk or two." he chuckled again, this time more heartily than the last time, "Man, that was great. Didn't the desk almost hit the Headmaster?"

Thank the Gods my apparatus covered my face, or else my ever growing blush of embarrassment would be on public display. "Yes, it did. But in my defence, A business should not give out that much paperwork for such a little thing."

"You bought eighteen dust generators and a Gods damned cannon."

"They were important."

"Yeah, to... What was it again?" he paused, although I knew that he knew perfectly well on what I did with the cannon and generators, "Oh! I remember now! Drunk you tried to shoot Alistair to the other side of Remnant! Oh my Gods, that was probably the biggest failure I have ever seen!" his chuckles had dissolved into full on laughter now, making my blush grow a deeper shade of red.

"How was I supposed to know it would blow up like that?!" I shouted in an attempt to save myself, some of my fellow teachers looking at me curiously, "Besides, you didn't make it any better! You tried to throw it out the window!"

It had, sadly, only made his laughing more intense, and I could hear him fall to the ground in his hysterics. "A-at least I tried to do something! You were talking the whole time! Yelling about how you were a badass bitch and calling Layton a sexy mofo!" His laughter had, thankfully dissipated into a string of chuckles again, and was breathing rather hard.

Before I could defend myself on that rather embarrassing story, Ozpin was on stage and walking towards the microphone. "Look, Adolf, I have to go. Ozpin's about to give a speech, I might talk to you later, probably won't though." I said, thankful for Ozpin's timely entrance.

"Sure, Sure. That's what they always say. And I thought our date was going so we-" I cut the line off and, for what felt like the tenth time today, sighed. How I survived this torment for so many years was beyond me, but I had to prepare for probably the biggest challenge since the Revolution now.

All of Team BLAC, together again. May the Gods have mercy on me.

* * *

 **Follow, Favorite and/or give a review if you enjoyed or have any feedback for me!**


	6. A Man's Demented Past

**Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.**

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" _War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over."_

 **23 Janus, 3150 PD -C. Astali-**

I jabbed the electric prod into her ribs again, upping the voltage twice as high. The scream that she let only caused this unsettling feeling to push more at my mind, trying to convince me I should stop. I ignored it and continued my work, letting it have the feeling of victory before crushing it once more.

I stopped after I heard her scream go hoarse. Hours of torture would do that to most, I suppose. I let her catch her breath, going towards the metal table that was against a concrete walls and putting the prod on it. The woman was far more trouble than I thought she was. Perhaps it was her animal features, or maybe the fact she was a former huntress. Either way, she was difficult, and I will not tolerate difficult.

"Now Madam… I'm sorry, but what was your name again?" I already knew the answer to that, along with every other detail on her life. I may as well let her underestimate me. Give her the hope she so strongly wanted. It was always fun to take it away.

Alexandria Alabaster, formerly Aero, was the daughter of a merchant and a reformed criminal, who was apart of a crime network centered in Mistral, and hails from Mantle. After graduating from Atlas with mediocre grades, she ran off with her future husband, Davison Alabaster, to Vacuo. She retired from being a huntress after learning she was carrying a child and had a relatively ordinary life. Until the Revolution started, of course. Now she's here, being tortured with no hope of rescue and the possibilities of seeing her family again slim. It's almost romantic. Except for the fact that she _was_ going to die here. And her family would be seeing her again, but not with the joy of being reunited with the most important woman of their lives. Instead, they would be weeping over a broken and unrecognisable corpse in a box.

She spit a glob of red at me, it hitting my boots with a disgusting smack. I answered her with a half-hearted backhand, the force only slightly jerking her head to the side. "Now, Now. We do not need to act so rudely to your superior. After all, how would poor, little Jacob react?"

She widened her eyes, then narrowed them and scowled at me, "Don't you dare even get close to him! No, don't even talk about him!" A harsh, but hoarse, whisper of someone who would do harm if she was disobeyed. A shame she wasn't on our side. Or human to begin with. I would just have to do this the hard way.

"Talk about him?" I started pacing, doing a little rhythm on my back. At the same time, I pulled out a scroll sitting on the table and started dialing a number. I always did like a little psychological warfare. "I would never do such a thing in front of you Madam Alexandria. In fact, how about I just talk _to_ him." I started the call and put the scroll on speaker, signaling the guards that were present to gag her.

After a few minutes, the phone picked up and a muffled yell resounded from the scroll, "Sorry Nana! Hi Momma!" Her reaction was quick and violent. She started yanking on the straps and, eventually, started trying to use what feeble amounts of Aura she had left to add to her strength. It wasn't going to work, I had the straps and chair specially made to be fused with Dust and high octane steel. Escapees tend to not make it far in an escape, so I would prefer if they stayed alive for questioning. For their sake.

"Hello there, young one. I am a friend of your mothers and was told by her to tell you that she loves you very much."

There was a minutes pause before I heard a small laugh on the other line, "You talk funny." The small boy gasped, "Sorry! My Momma always tells me that I shouldn't say mean things to people like that, she says I just like to talk to people a lot."

Chuckling in an attempt to cover up the sounds of the small struggle transpiring next to me, I started walking back towards the table and picked up a scalpel, "It is quite alright little one, you are not the first to say such a thing. I apologize if I sound rude, but do you mind if I talk to your father? I wanted to talk to him about something."

"He's not home right now, he went somewhere with these big scary guys and said he doesn't know when he would be back."

"How unfortunate." I said, with an added touch of sorrow, "Ah! It seems I must take my leave, but it was a pleasure talking to you, young one. I do hope we meet each other one day."

"Goodbye mister!" I hung up and placed the scroll back on the table. Glancing over at my captive, I noticed a sever lack of courage now. She understood now what I was willing to do.

"Y-you're a monster." I simply gestured towards one of the guards to go and retrieve our 'guest', and walked over to her. I placed my hand on here shoulder, relishing the small flinch it caused.

"In war, I have found that you always require a monster to finish a fight with as little opposition as possible. So thank you for those ever kind words." I took my hand off and walked back towards the table. "Scalpel or saw?"

"Wh-what?"

"Scalpel or Saw, it's rather a simple question." I picked up the saw and started to examine both it and the scalpel. The edges would need to be sharpened again. Washed as well it would appear.

"Sc-scalpel I guess," she then blinked a couple times, as if having realized something. I hope she has realized something, or I else she was greatly overestimated. "Wait, why isn't my husband home? He should be…" Her eyes relit themselves with the same ferocity as when the interrogation first started, as if the continuous hours of pain and suffering had never happened, "If you did anything to him I'll…!" The chair was struggling to stay anchored to the floor, and the straps were starting to tear. I quickly grabbed _Warmaker_ and transformed it into its shotgun form, letting a round go into her knee. She screamed in pain as the slug reduced it to nothing,letting the leg fall limply to the floor.

"I don't think you are in a position to make threats Madam. I haven't done anything to your husband." I walked over to the exit and knocked on it. "If you're so worried about his well being, then why don't you ask him yourself?" On que, the door opened and a struggling, slightly beaten, man was brought in on a gurney, yelling at his captures.

"Davis!" She yelled through her screams, trying to uproot the chair once more. _Warmaker_ dispelling another slug near her remaining leg was all the suggesting she needed. As a bonus, it shut up the man as well.

"Before I can do anything you might regret, would you now like to tell me where the Revolutionary base is?" She glanced over at her husband, who shook his head, and then glared at me. Sighing I walked over to Sir Davison and started spinning the scalpel between my fingers. "Did you know that without the iris, you could not see? I found this out at the age of thirteen myself, but I was still awestruck at the fact that our pupils were not the only needed part to see. It's likely common knowledge now, but I always like to test out what scientific fact comes to my mind." Putting my hand on top of his chest, I stabbed the scalpel into the Sirs eye and started cutting the iris out nimbly. I held down through it all and his constant jerking about caused some rough cuts into the actual iris, but I finally pulled it out and placed it on a small stool. "Now, Madam Alexandria, would you mind telling me what I want? I wouldn't want to do it to the other eye, being a blind man in this bloody world is a death sentence."

She said nothing, just stared blankly at the iris and whimpered lightly. Sighing, I started moving towards the other side of the gurney, "Very well then, but when your husband runs out of eyes, Jacob will have to be brought in as well," Her head jerked up in fear, and Davison did his best to look at me with his other eye, terror showing across his face, "It is regrettable such a young and bright spirit will have to be sightless _and_ parentless."

"Stop! Please! I'll tell you everything, just don't hurt either of them!" She was losing her voice with all her careless screaming, but it didn't matter now. She was going to let loose her information. I walked over to her and motioned for her to continue, "It's in the Kosmos Mountains, near Atlas. We just got there, so we shouldn't be ready for an attack." She was started sobbing afterwards, and Davison looked to be holding back his own. It was amazing how easy it was to break even the strongest of people in a matter of minutes, especially if you knew who they are and what culture they are from. It just came down to how you used that information to get what you want. All I want is to win this war, no matter the cost.

"Thank you for this, Madam. I truly am grateful. I hope you enjoy your freedom." They didn't show any reaction to what I had said, or they knew I was lying. In the end, all they got were two bullets to the head.

* * *

 **7 Sextilis, 3176 PD -C. Astali-**

I awoke and rose quickly, ready to for combat. Quickly, I dropped my guard when I saw that I was still in the auditorium, having volunteered to watch the students. It was mainly to get away from the pestering Port and to be able to get some form of introduction to some of the students. While making my rounds before most of the students went to sleep, I discovered that a Schnee was attending. I had met only one Schnee and she was too deep in Ironwood's pocket to really be of any use to me, maybe this one will be different.

The only nuisance I had during all this was the occasional pair of students who had wandered off to get to 'know' each other. I caught one pair in the middle of the act, in fact, and I had to hold back my anger from them just ignoring me. I had to punch a wall in the end to get their attention, and when they saw me…

It seemed like they had seen a monster.

Monster. I guess some things just never change in the end.

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 **Sorry if this chapter doesn't feel like it compensated for much in the way of my absence, but I think the amount of backstory and, I hope, personality I gave to Astali will greatly make up for that. But do not worry! I know exactly what I'm going to do for next chapter so be ready for the start of initiation and maybe possibly a new character or two.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed and don't forget to follow, favorite, and/or leave a review!**


	7. A Terrible Encounter

**I am back everyone! Sorry for the wait, I had some school and sickness problems to deal with. So, you know, the usual stuff. I hope this chapter makes up for all that and remember, Follow/Favorite/Comment everyone! Your feedback and support would be much appreciated for me as a writer, and would help me improve this story in the long run!**

 **Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.**

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" _The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on."_

 **8 Sextilis, 3176 PD -C. Astali-**

" _How did so much dust collect on my things? I haven't even been here for a week!"_ I thought, brushing away the substance off of a box holding tools and cleaning supplies. Instead of watching the students attend to getting ready for Initiation, I opted to use the time I had to sort my room and get an overall feel of my surroundings. The room was rather spacious, to say the least.

The room was about the size of Vale. Large and expensive. The living area was half full with boxes, and the bedroom was already being converted into a workshop. Sleep wasn't much of an option for me, nor did it welcome me as it used to.

I had already set up some of my more needed items. A television already firmly held against the wall, an oxygen mask and tank right next to a worn couch, and my weapon rack. _Warmaker_ and _Peacemonger_ were already placed on it, gleaming from a recent cleaning of them. It was a rarity for a Huntsman to have two weapons, as more than one could easily weigh you down if you are not built for carrying heavy armament. While not as physically built as some, I had made _Peacemonger_ for being easily carried and, if needed, concealed. The sole purpose of _Warmaker_ was to be as loud and ferocious as possible, as no one ignores a shotgun blast echoing throughout their base.

Walking over to the rack, I gently grabbed _Peacemonger_ and used it to cut open boxes. It was as if cutting through butter with searing hot knife, which it could have been if I hadn't been careful, and started cutting open a footlocker sized box.

I was halfway cutting through the tape holding it closed when I noticed some purple and pink golf balls laying inside of it, and I knew only one man who would have these. I rolled out of the way as I saw some vapor coming from my left, pushing the box and dropping _Peacemonger_ in the process.

As if out of thin air, a man, followed by a thin trail of vapor, jumped out of the the box I had been sitting next to and landed feet first on the couch. The man was brightly dressed and was sporting an unnaturally wide grin, his hair having a light grey color to its untamed style. He was wearing a purple and pink striped tailcoat with a dress shirt that was white with blue accents. He also had on a pair of red and pink tap dancing shoes and purple breeches, a cat tail moving around behind him. If anyone else was here, they likely wouldn't have guessed this man was my partner.

"Hello Bud! I see you found my golf balls." Seemingly out of nowhere, he pulled a gold and purple golf club and hopped down in front of me. His blue and aqua eyes stared at me with an almost childlike glee, as if he had just found his long lost toy. "I've been wondering where they went. They always disappear for some reason."

"Like you?" He spun around me, tapping me on the head with his club as he did, and picked up a ball from the box.

"It's no fun to be in the same place for to long. I mean, look at you," He gestured at me as if I were some type of trophy, something to be shown off to anyone who happens to be interested in me, "You staying in Atlas for so long has made you act all formal and angry. Last time I saw someone like you, he took over a company."

Having grabbed more golf balls while he was talking, he began juggling them around idly, while leaning against his golf club, which was slowly sliding away from him. I ignored his comment and continued unpacking my things. "What do you want Alistair, don't you see I am busy with something?"

"That's what I'm here about!" Nonchalantly catching every golf ball, he walked over to me and put an arm around my shoulder, putting his hand forward in a pushing motion, "I have pushed all my plans for the rest of this year to spend some time and help my teammate, and resident best buddy, Cadec Astali."

I froze, from either shock or anger I couldn't tell. All I knew at that moment was that this day was being a _real_ piece of shit to me. From my lack of movement he started snapping his fingers in front of my face, and then resorted to tapping my lens' with his golf club. Shaking my head, I reached into a pouch at my side and pulled out my medicine. Injecting it into my bloodstream, I felt a calming presence take over once more and I slowly looked at Alistair with a calm stare. "Alistair? You do know that Adolf and Layton are coming here, correct?"

"Yep!" I never understood where the joy came from.

"So why are you here if you know I already have those two coming to 'help'?"

"It's simply because I want to spend time with you, as I have said, and to have a big ol' family reunion with all of you guys!" He disappeared suddenly, leaving only hints of vapor in his place. Looking around, I found him looking down the barrel of _Warmaker_ , while casually stroking the trigger. "Besides, I also have a small gift for you."

From within his coat, he pulled out a file crudely labeled _Open On Yuletide_ , and tossed it towards me. Amazingly enough, none of the papers fell out as I caught it. "First of all, put it back," He grunted and reluctantly put my weapon back on the rack,"Second, why did you want me to open this in the holidays?"

", Well, I _was_ planning on coming during Yuletide, but I thought maybe it would be kinda late to get this to you."

Thumbing through the file, I realized why he had gotten this to me now. It held _very_ in depth papers talking about every student that was to go through Initiation today, and further back was an extra little treat for me. "These last few files are very revealing on the teachers here, why would you give me these?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He was on the couch again, lazily sitting with his arms behind his head. After a few seconds of silence, he sighed and looked at me out the corner of his eyes, "Who knows how many of them would disagree with our little experiment, right? And we need leverage the ones that do, yeah?" He was back at my side in an instant, leaning on me in full force. "I swear, sometimes you are the densest person ever. Of all time."

Ignoring the insult, I shrugged his weight off of me. He fell onto the floor rather loudly, but it didn't seem to faze him in the slightest. I walked over to the kitchen counter and paced the folder on it. I started going through the boxes, looking for the whiskey I had stored away for 'special' occasions.

I was interrupted by Alistair rolling over to me and wrapping his tail around my wrist. He rolled his eyes after a quizzical look was sent his way and started to guide my hand towards a large box. "It's in the right corner, very top, covered in tin foil."

"Why is it in there?"

"Because some people get thirsty in a box after three hours," Sighing, I opened the now obviously badly opened box and looked for the tin foil covered alcohol. Sure enough, it was where he said it was and after pulling it out and taking off the foil, I took out a glass for myself. Before I could start opening the bottle, I heard a coughing sound to my right. Looking over, I saw Alistair holding his own glass out, looking at me expectantly. "Not going to leave your best bud empty handed, right?"

I gave him the most evil glare I could muster, which got even worse when his response to it was his already huge grin getting larger. Finally, I submitted with a growl and took his glass from him. "Fine," Putting the glass down, I quickly turned back at him and held up my finger, "But only one, I don't want another drunk escapade like the last time."

He held up his hands and gave an innocent look, laughing as if _I_ had lost my mind. "If I remember correctly, you were the one trying to shoot me out of a cannon." Not wanting to have this conversation again, I quickly opened the bottle and poured our glasses. "The explosion scared Headmaster Lionheart half to death, even heard he had to go to the clinic afterwards."

I handed him his glass while I started unclasping my helmet and apparatus. He looked at me worriedly as his trademark grin faltered, something that never happens. "You know you don't need to keep that on, right?" I placed the helmet and apparatus on the counter and took a long drink from my glass.

The alcohol burned my throat as it went down, but most drinks burned now. Especially water. "It's better this way," I looked at the mirror on the wall and saw the terror all over again. I heard the screams, I heard the pleading, I heard the begging. I felt the fire, saw the flames, smelt the cinder's as they rose into the night. But most importantly, I saw the man that had been willing to commit genocide for a simple matter of revenge. Anger. Sorrow. Whatever anyone wanted to call it, whatever anyone said to try and justify it, it still wouldn't change the fact. It wouldn't save those that I had killed all those men, women, and children. People who had family and friends that they wanted to see one last time before a bullet, a fist, a foot, made them quiet. It wouldn't save everyone in my last push that had nearly destroyed all of Mantle.

And everytime I close my eyes, I see someone looking up at me. The Butcher. The Monster. The Silver Eyed Devil.

Alistair noticed my staring and was about to speak, but he was stopped by a ringing in his coat. He pulled out a scroll and snorted, giving it an annoyed look. "I have to make a rain check on my staying here, seems as though my employer was actually _not_ finished with me." He started and finished his glass in a matter of seconds, and stowed it in his coat. He stopped leaning on the counter and put his hand on my shoulder, giving me a genuine and kind smile. I nodded back at him and gave him the closest thing to a smile I could give, something he seemed to beam at. "Remember, you ever need someone to talk to, I'm your main man." Patting my shoulder, he grabbed his golf club that, I hadn't realized, was leaning against the box the whiskey was in.

He walked over to the box he had appeared from and was about to jump back in before he stopped himself, turning back towards me, "Also, forgot to say this, but congratulations on becoming the new professor here at Beacon!" And with that, he jumped into the box and disappeared with a cloud of vapor coming out of the box.

Chuckling, I finished my glass and placed it in the sink. "Thanks, Alistair."

Checking the clock, I saw it was almost time for the Initiation. Grabbing my helmet and apparatus, I started placing them back on with mechanical speed and efficiency. I heard a knock on my door as I was finishing putting on my apparatus and, as I was walking towards the door, noticed _Peacemonger_ laying on the half opened box that used to have golf balls in them.

I picked the weapon up, and saw a slightly damp note on its grip.

" _Did your mother ever teach you not to leave toys on the floor ;)_ "

Shaking my head with a hint of a smile on my face, I put the note back on the box and sheathed _Peacemonger_. Walking over to the door and opened it, being greeted by the site of a woman with a riding crop and a cape resting on her shoulders. "Colonel Astali?"

"I know the Initiation is about to start, I was just… getting ready."

She narrowed her eyes at me and looked me up and down, before nodding and turning around. I began following her down the halls of Beacon, my hands clasped behind my back as I did. I noticed that the walls were very plain, except for the occasional painting, and that the doors lining the hallways were recently disturbed.

"Excuse me, Miss… Goodwitch was it?" I knew it was her. She was the very first one I looked into when I accepted the position here. She had a very impressive track record as a huntress and as teacher, being the combat instructor at Beacon. I wouldn't say she was teaching flawlessly, but she was still impressive.

She stopped and turned towards me, pushing up her glasses as she did. "Yes?"

I guess that was an answer and a gesture to continue. "Ozpin didn't go much into it, but what am I to be teaching here at Beacon?"

She turned and started walking again, me following her as before. "I believe you are to be teaching Military Science and History, if I am correct."

Odd that he wants me to teach that to the students. Military history makes sense, but Military _Science_? I will have to ask him after the Initiation.

We continued walking in silence. As we approached a _very_ familiar door, I heard two men shouting on the other side.

" _I guarantee that Mister Arc will be paired with Miss Xiao Long, Bart!_ "

" _You are only saying that because they are the only blondes we have found out of all the students here!_ "

" _You can't prove that!_ "

Hearing this, Miss Goodwitch groaned and opened the door louder than was necessary. Walking in after her, I saw a large pile of Lien on the table and the green haired man from the last time I was in here pointing at Port, whose hair was sticking up in places, accusingly.

"Ah! Miss Goodwitch!" The green one was in front of here in a second, holding a coffee cup that I had not seen him holding before. "Would you like to join us in our most enjoyable game?"

Goodwitch pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, "No thank you, Bartholomew. But I would like it if you and Peter would be quiet."

The green one, now named Bartholomew, rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I apologize, Glynda. It seems we got a bit carried away." Port nodded his apologies as well and fixed his hair, he nodded again once he noticed. I reluctantly nodded back, but took a step back when Bartholomew appeared in front of me. "You must be Colonel Astali! I had heard you be teaching here but-" He interrupted himself and took a sip of his coffee. "But I didn't believe it at first!" He took my hand and started shaking it quickly, with a surprising amount of force behind it. "I am Professor Bartholomew Oobleck, it is a pleasure!"

I stood there bewildered for a second after he had released my hand. This school was insane. Ozpin was insane. How did these people get a position here? Did Ozpin even care to interview them? Now that I think about it, he only asked me one question of importance. In fact, I asked more questions then him.

' _What have I gotten myself into?_ '

Before I could respond, the scroll Goodwitch was holding buzzed. She tapped on it a few times and began walking towards the exit. She stopped and turned back towards us, giving Port and Oobleck a stern look. "If I hear of either of you getting into a fight over this 'game' of yours again, Ozpin won't be able to help you this time." And with that, she left a terrified pair of teachers and an amused me behind.

I went and sat in a chair facing a large monitor, while Oobleck and Port continued their betting. Port looked at his scroll and cheered victoriously, standing on the couch he had sat in. "It seems I am not the only one that pairs the blonds!" He held up his scroll proudly, showing a message from Ozpin. "He puts 155 Lien on them becoming partners."

This started another wave of the argument from before Goodwitch's intervention, with me having to suffer through it all in the middle of the battleground. It went all like this for a little over fifteen minutes, only being stopped by the monitor turning on. The image showed Ozpin and Goodwitch watching students as they got into some sort of readying position. I noticed someone raise their hand as one by one the students started being flung off the cliff. Looking more closely, I realized it was Sir Arc, who appeared to be asking questions as the platform underneath him pushed up quickly and sent him into the woods below.

I began to quietly laugh at the situation that was put forth for the young Arc, and I did something that I thought I never would have thought I'd do. I threw some Lien onto the table as well. "I would like to but five Lien on…" I looked over the list of students carefully and quickly, looking for the best and most likely options. I looked at two unlikely ones and chose them as my bets. "Madams Rose and Schnee."

Oobleck nodded quickly and put my money in the pile, while Port looked at me as if I'd made a mistake. I ignored the look and continued to watch the monitor as it split into four separate feeds, showing different students every few seconds while also displaying their names.

At the moment, it showed Madam Rose,a Pyrrha Nikos, a student named Cardin Winchester, and another one named Achilles Prasinos. They had all landed successfully, and Nikos threw her spear somewhere in the woods. And odd decision to say the least. The feeds suddenly changed to those of Weiss Schnee, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Sky Lark. It seemed as though Sir Lark was in combat with two Beowolves and an Ursa. Nothing to challenging I believe, but I wasn't focused on that anymore.

I was more focused on the fact that I was close to winning the bet.

Madams Schnee and Rose were staring right at each other, both looking rather surprised by seeing each other. Madam Schnee quickly turned around and left, leaving Madam Rose there on her own.

' _This could be a serious problem if not dealt with soon._ '

The screens changed once more to four new students, and my expression changed to one of terror for once in a long time when I saw what an Erland Parsley had found. The black bundle of mangled and tattered fur that seemed tangle was very stationary, the only hint of it being more than just that was the long, jagged, and broken pair of antlers in the middle of it. It seemed my peers had noticed it too.

"I thought they were only native to Atlas." Port said, his tone changing to one of panic.

"It seems that's changed, Peter." Oobleck was speaking slowly with a measured tone, seeming to look at every possible way the student could get out. I reacted as I should have. _Peacemonger_ was in my hand in seconds and I was advancing towards the door quickly. Port grabbed my arm and held me there with surprising strength for someone his size.

"Let go, I need to deal with that…" I stopped speaking as I saw the black bundle that was in front of Sir Parsley start to shift and unfold out of the shape it was in. As I saw the horror rise, I began shaking uncontrollably, something uncharacteristic of me.

As it rose to its full height, I could only say one thing. "Gods help that poor soul."

* * *

 **-?-**

The bastard Ozpin couldn't have warned us? I mean it's one thing to send us into the forest, but it's another to just launch us off a fuckin' cliff?! I barely landed that fall!

Sighing, I started to revolve the chamber in one of my pistols, making sure they weren't damaged during the fall. I continued doing this for a couple of minutes until I heard snoring.

' _Snoring? In the forest? Who sleeps here of all places?_ '

I moved in the direction of the sound and stopped at the site in front of me.

A… thing was folded over itself, the torso bending were the chest and stomach meet, its head hanging unnaturally. It's right arm was muscular to the point where the muscles had broken through the skin, a dark red blood seeping out of the opening. It's left arm, and most of its body, was gaunt, with the ribcage seeming to have torn its way through the skin. Its organs protrude from its almost skinless torso, ignoring the occasional hanging pieces of flesh, only being kept in by what looked to be a stringy red sinew. Its head was elk like and almost as white as the mask, likely from its own head skin looking as though it was chewed off. The antlers haphazardly sticking out of its skull, branching out as if it were a crooked, broken and dying tree.

Suddenly, the right arm shot up and grabbed the tree that was behind it, revealing a bony hand with fingers as sharp as a knife. It slowly started to unfold and rise, showing gnarled legs that looked as elk like as its face. The skin on its back looked as if it was too big for it, hanging off like an enormous cloak. It was shaking as if it were in tremendous pain, and it slowly lifted its head in the air and sniffed the air. It fell on all fours, suddenly, facing me with glowing red eyes and snarling.

"Couple of bullets aren't gonna put you down like the rest?"

My answer as I turned back and ran was the scream of a monster and a small child crying at once.

* * *

 **Oh boy, now wasn't that a chapter? I want to hear what you guys think about this creature of Grimm and what it is based off of, would absolutely love to hear you guys thoughts on it. And tell me if I'm moving the whole entire Team BLAC reunion along too fast, and if I am, I'll slow down a bit in the future. I'm also thinking about doing a type of WOR series in the near future, to talk about all the things said in this story I don't think I can get to in this story. Lot from you guys about.**

 _ **Next time on The Passing of War**_

 **TV Show Host:** Cadec Astali, you are the father!

 **[Crowd gasps as Astali looks around questioningly]**

 **Cadec Astali:** Why did you bring me here?

 **Me:** Because we need that dramatic plot revolving around your child, **[Insert name here]** , and your fling from the Revolution.

 **CA:** First off, I haven't had a romantic relationship before. Second, I would prefer it if we didn't talk about my sexuality!

 **Me:** Jokes on you, I can make your sexuality whatever I want. Bi, Hetero, Homo, Pan, whatever I feel like.

 **CA:** What gives you the right!

 **Me:** Because I am a metaphorical God of this world I have built. Hell, I could make you a woman with a few edits to the story.

 **[Astali gives a death glare to a metaphorical God]**

 **CA:** You wouldn't dare.

 **Me:** I dare everyday.

 **CA:** That makes no sense.

 **Me:** Don't care, metaphorical God. Boom.

 **CA:** I hate you.


	8. World of Remnant: Grimm Evolution

**Currently working on the next chapter, so I made this little thing to appease you guys for now. Let me know how you feel about these, because they probably will only pop up from time to time. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.**

* * *

"The creatures of Grimm. A strange and peculiar breed of living beings. It is unknown why they eat, sleep, or drink when they lack the required organs to do so, as the same could be said about how they reproduce. But I'm not here to discuss common knowledge. I'm here to discuss the _uncommon_."

"What I mean is the concepts of evolution. While as humans and Faunus have gone through these transformations, it has been a ferociously debated topic in Grimm sciences as to whether or not Grimm go through the same things as every other being living. But they seem to forget that the Grimm are, in fact, alive. While they are missing many key organs that are instrumental to the workings of a being's good health, and the lack of a soul, they have shown to harbor great intelligence in their later years and the flowing of blood is evident. That is, if you pay attention to their bodies."

"Grimm have also shown great capabilities to adapt to situations happening to or around them. An example of this is the Enko. Today, it is a Grimm that can travel by both water and land with ease, it used to be that it primarily lived on the coasts and rivers of Anima. It was well known for its far more… passive approach to killing. One day, Mistral called upon its Huntsmen and Huntresses to destroy the beasts, and in the slaughter of them, they did something extraordinary. They attacked the Hunters in full force on land, a move not heard of, and in the confusion of it all escaped. The kingdom hid this for sometime as to not arouse panic in the populace. But as seen today, it did not stay hidden forever."

"But the greatest example of the Grimm Evolution Theory is the Wihtikiw. A once docile Grimm that lived in Solitas, when the continent was far warmer. The creature resembled a deer in appearance, but had the intelligence of a Goliath, and kept away from civilisation in wait for opportunity. Nature had a different plan for them, however. One day, Early civilisation and every Grimm on Solitas was killed when a monstrous blizzard crashed upon the continent, as if it was a starving beast leaping upon the first prey it had seen in days. It made the continent as it is today, cold and desolate, inhospitable to all. Except for the Wihtikiw. It is unknown to this day how the creatures survived the ordeal, but one thing that is known for certain s that they had changed. They had gained a muscular and humanoid physique, a far more carnivorous and cannibalistic hunger, and had lost the bone plates that had been on them before, with only the Alphas having them still. It has been debated over if this was simply a new type of Grimm, but the almost runic patterns on the masks were far too similar to to each other. The only reason the appearance of the pre-evolutionary Wihtikiw is due to a handful of surviving sketches that had survived the blizzard, something that astounds archaeologists still."

"While Atlas prides itself in being in little worry of overwhelming numbers of Grimm, the Wihtikiw is a very real threat to them, one that should not be let out of the continent as well. For if such a thing were to happen, it would cause many more of its kind to follow."

"As I mentioned before, the Wihtikiw gained a far more cannibalistic appetite for its brethren. While it could be seen as a good thing to the uneducated, the creatures still possessed a shred of their former intelligence, if not with a more feral touch to it. The creatures devour the skin of its species, and let each other heal before they continue their feast. But I am getting off topic. The point is that they are devourers of their own kind, and a reason they know where to find prey is through smell. They still use emotions as a guide primarily for humans, but they have a far better time with tracking by scent. Especially their own kind. So if one Wihtikiw got out of Solitas, many more would follow. And the kingdoms wouldn't have the same defenses for the creatures like Atlas and Mantle do. It would be a massacre for many and a victory for some."

"Maybe that is what she plans to do after all..."

* * *

 **I'm just going to say the person doing these has NOT been shown or mentioned yet, but definitely pay attention for someone who talks like this later in the story. And let me know if I should continue these or just focus on the story, I would greatly like some feedback for this story. It would help improve the story and my abilities as a writer. Don't forget to Follow/Favorite/Review everyone! See you next chapter!**


	9. Interference

**Sorry for the absence everyone, life and all. But let us not spend time on that and get right into the story! Also, I revised (and rewrote) half the first chapter of this fic! So go read that, because there is a hella (I will never use that word again) ton of stuff in it, such a dialogue, and backstory, and weird mecha fighting involving Tom Hanks for some reason.**

 **Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.**

 **8 Sextilis, 3176 PD -?-**

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Three more shots echoed from my pistol as I jumped over a fallen tree, not having enough time to see if the rounds connected, "Fuckin' shoulda loaded in the explosive rounds!"

How did I, of all people, have to have the most shit faced luck. Healthy life, a mostly good family, and a future as a huntsman! But oh no, I can't have any of that! In fact, I'll probably be dead, slammed against a tree or some shit, because of this fuckin' nightmare behind me! Funny thing is, I'm more pissed than terrified right now. Pissed that my fuckin' accent is back.

A giant rock sailing past me brought me out of my thoughts quickly. Officially the worst day ever. Well, at least I can cross out 'get eaten by monstrous Grimm' on my bucket list. Just kiddin'. I'd need a body to do that.

Something caught me in the legs suddenly and sent me falling forward. Attempting, key word 'attempting', to angle the fall into a roll, I found the reward for my amazing athletics to be a sharp looking hand swatting me into a tree.

Still dazed from the impact, creaks and snaps started coming from the tree. Painfully, I jumped out of the way of the collapsing tree. Unfortunately, it was into Its hands, that I jumped into. It stared at me viciously and hungrily, saliva flowing from its mouth. It screamed into my face, sending hot and rancid air to surround me. I responded the only way I knew how. "Fuck you!" Getting one of my arms free of its clutches, I fired without aim. A bullet sailed into Its eye socket, causing a terrible, pained scream to emanate from it. The injured beast dropped me, reaching for the wound my small outburst caused, and threw itself about in its pained state in unnatural ways.

I began running as soon as I felt grass and dirt, seeing a small clearing in front of me. Heavy thuds began sounding behind me again, and more aggressive snarls and shrill screams followed it, some even sounded like they were in front of me.

As I came to the clearing, the observation started to make sense. A pack of Beowolves were circling another student, an overly dressed one at that, an Alpha at the forefront of the encirclement. One of them seemed to notice me and began to slowly stalk towards me, which turned into a full blown sprint. As it leapt at me, my gun posed to take it down, a _very_ unexpected thing happened.

The monster was above me in seconds and, instead of attacking me, it caught the Beowolf mid flight. They both landed in a bundle, the Beowolf wrestling with the much larger Grimm for survival. The struggle ended with the beast's head being ripped off, the surviving terror beginning to eat its remains. Eating it! As if this thing wasn't terrifying enough. The rest of the pack, with a noticeable amount of their ranks missing, began to charge at the monstrosity, It to busy with its meal to notice them. I began to run towards the other student, who was surrounded by dissipating corpses and in the middle of a fight with the Alpha, dodging under a swipe from a beowolf before it was grabbed and ripped apart. Getting closer to the engagement, I went to fire a round, only for the cylinder to not turn. Quickly inspecting the cylinder, I noticed grass had gotten into it at some point, resulting in the jam. Picking out the grass as quickly as I could, I looked back up only to notice the Alpha with its mouth open, and a thin blade sticking out the back of the head.

Jogging closer to the aftermath of the battle, I called out, with a half hearted voice, to my fellow survivor, having pulled the blade from the head of the Grimm with a noticeably disgusted quickness. "You alright?" He seemed to have just noticed my appearance in the area, as he looked at me with what looked like a surprised expression, but I couldn't make out what his expression was at this distance. As he got closer, I was able to make out just how impeccably dressed he was. Brown leather cuffed gloves and boots adorned him, and an equally brown leather jerkin over what could only be described as a man's blouse. His features were angular and, admittedly, handsome, with chin length, curly chestnut hair covered by a cavalier hat, one side of the brim pinned to the crown. The outfit gave the look of someone who could move quickly and freely, at the cost of no armor, in this case. Who am I to talk though, only armor I got is a silver belt buckle.

Stopping in front of me, he clapped his hand on my shoulder, and started looking over my appearance, stopping and chuckling when he got to the gun in my hand. "I never quite expected a man of less style to be my partner. However, I also never expected the monsters to fight against themselves. Very _impar_ , no?" he said, with a thick accent that made the man sound far to suave for my liking. He motioned to the fight happening behind me and, with the swagger that would have made any woman gush, put his foot on a Beowolf head as it rolled towards us. Inspecting the head, then the battle, he gave a quiet 'hmph' and turned back towards me, "Perhaps we should move along? It would be awkward to fight something so…" Not seeming to find the right words, he snapped at me, as if I knew what he meant.

"Terrifying, Monstrous, Deadly? Does it matter what we call it? It'll kill us just the same!" Pointing over to the scene consisting of blacks, whites, and reds, the rage and bloodlust coming from the monster sending waves of fear through me, as the beast ran its head into a Beowolf it had gotten off its back, using the antlers as crude spears. The unfortunate Grimm yelped as it was lifted into the air and slammed into the ground several times before going limp. Still pointing at it, I exclaimed in exasperation and mild exhaustion, "See!"

His arms crossed and his hand on his chin, as if he were in thought, he simply nodded and began walking away. "I see your point. Come, _mi amigo_! We have a long journey ahead of us, no?" The man's calmness was irritating, yet also infectious. Sighing, I began to follow in a brisk pace, wanting to get away from Mr. One-Eye as soon as possible. Great, I just gave the thing a pet name. Actually, speaking of names…

"My name's Erland by the way! Erland Parsley!" My fellow teenager looked over his shoulder and, with an irritatingly amused smile, dramatically tipped his hat at me. He turned his head back, as if the small exchange didn't happen, not even telling me his name. I waited a couple of seconds to see if he would answer back. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes then turned into, what felt like, an hour. Finally, with a sigh of frustration mixed with some fatigue, I closed the small amount of distance between us and lightly hit his arm to draw his attention. Looking at me with a raised eyebrow, he gave me a look that said 'I thought we were done talking' and hit me back amusingly. Throwing my arms up in contempt, "You know it's common courtesy to introduce yourself after me, right?" Wasn't going for the growl in my voice, but I've had a really long day.

He stopped and stood for a moment before turning and removing his hat, giving a showy bow and grabbing my left hand. This is getting weird real fast. "I apologize, I was someplace else in mind at the the time," Sure you were, bud, "My name is Inigo Espada III, master bladesman and purveyor of the finest of _gustos_." If I would've known this guy could outshine the sun, I would have brought sunglasses. He gave me a quick peck on my knuckles and continued back in the direction we were going earlier. Rubbing my knuckles clean and following him at a slight distance, the load howls and growls that used to be behind us grew fainter until they were no more.

Lets hope it stays that way.

* * *

 **-C. Astali-**

Attaching the gun sling to _Warmonger_ , my metallic boots rang through the hallway that was leading me to one of the schools many exits, hopefully the one leading to the cliff. That fat idiot better be glad our colleague got involved before I punched where I presumed to be where his mouth is. After a quick conversation and the locking of the teacher in a supply closet, Oobleck and I, after finding out he agreed with intervention due to the nature of the beast involved, discussed our plan of action. The good doctor was to call Goodwitch before my eventual arrival, whenever that is, at the cliffs. We never discussed what I was to do, due to the fact he sped off after we finished his part of the plan. If the Theatre Arts classes I took taught me anything, however, it's to improvise. That, and how to sing, but that's not important right now.

It took some time, but I eventually found the cliffs and, with it, an arguing Goodwitch and a concerned Ozpin. Goodwitch was on her scroll, talking to someone, likely Oobleck, in a tense and irritated tone. Ozpin on the other hand, was looking at the livestream of the Wikitikiw fighting Grimm, who oddly seemed to be lured towards the beast. He looked up at me, and, with a sigh, spoke, "I know what you are about to a-" He stopped as Goodwitch yelled aggressively over the phone. "Ask, and while I agree something must be done about this beast, for it endangers us all, I am still hesitant at letting you be the one to go down there." He looked over at Goodwitch for a brief second before looking back at me. "However, since I've seen your stubborn streak against James and from the fact Bartholomew agrees with you, to the point he has locked Peter in a supply closet and is arguing with Glynda, I believe that I can overlook my hesitance just this once." He closed out of the livestream and brought up a window with a few commands on it.

"Hold on, your letting me do this without any argument?" My skepticism couldn't be anymore obvious.

"Correct." His nonchalant approach was calming yet odd in a sense. "If you would please step on one of those pads, I will launch you into the forest shortly." I heard what sounded like a mechanism locking behind me as I stepped onto the platform.

"Why can't we use a Bull-"

"We don't have any available." I don't like how quick that response was.

"Fine." Huffing out of the annoyance of being interrupted, a thought came to mind as I heard what sounded like ticking underneath my feet speeding up. "Wait, what do you mean you heard about my stubborn streak?"

Before a response was uttered, I was launched from the cliff face into the air. I didn't exactly expect it to happen that fast, that soon. It was also a tad bit embarrassing to be flailing around like a newborn baby.

Note to self: When done, launch Ozpin off the cliff. And then damn him to Hell repeatedly until I run out of air.

 **While this chapter might look half assed and short for a 9 MONTH period, that's because it is. I had way to much trouble figuring out what I wanted from this chapter. In fact, I went through 8 drafts before I was partially satisfied by this. So, yea, sorry for that long ass break and I hope you guys have a happy holidays! I have a better idea of what the next chapter will be like, so expect it sometime soon.**

 **Also, how many F-Bombs can be dropped in a T-Rated fic? Asking for a friend.**

 **Remember, always comment if you got something to say, unless its flaming me for no reason, and favorite and follow if you like the story!**

 **Have a wonderful day, everyone!**


	10. A Happy Landing

**Hello, my dudes and dudettes! I bring you the next installment of The Passing of War! Let us skip all that filler and get right into the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.**

* * *

 **8 Sextilis, 3176 PD -C. Astali-**

Looking back on it now, today has been rather hectic for me. First, I have to read through and sign several packets of paperwork. Second, I get shot be a .50 caliber weapon by a (possibly) explosive young lady. Third, I had to deal with a man that I could easily mistake for a walrus with a loud voice. And finally, I'm being launched off a cliff by the headmaster of Beacon Academy who may be lying about a lack of Bullheads. Now, I am falling towards a densely packed forest with no plan on how to land. So I am a tad more peeved than usual.

There was one possible way to stop me from losing most of my aura - and a couple of bruises and broken bones - in the landing. Hopefully. I started hastily looking for the magazine for _Warmaker_ I needed. _'If I could just find the damn… there you are!'_ Ejecting the magazine of regular dust shells, it slowly sailed away from me as I injected the Gravity shells into the shotgun.

Gravity bullets and shells tended to be frowned upon by the military for two reasons. One, due to the unpredictability of gravity manipulating ammunition. One story talked about an Atlesian soldier using one in Target practice and it failing, causing the man or woman to float to the the other side of Atlas. That story wasn't as outlandish as the on about a city flying away due to the nature of the Gravity dust it housed. Two, it was extremely hard to get the dust required for the ammunition, and was seen as a waste of political connections to get a hold of. Mistral valued those floating islands of theirs for some reason, and wouldn't let anyone touch a single dust crystal on them without both approval from the Prime Minister, plus her council, and a military escort. To say it was tedious was putting it lightly. But far from a waste, especially in my current predicament.

The difference in a gravity shell and a gravity round was the spread of the dust. The shell had multiple pellets lined with the gravity dust, which would spread out and cover an area as large as a golf cart when the round landed, depending on the distance you shot it at. The effect lasted for a good 15 seconds before the dust dissipated. That meant I had to time my shot so the shells spread encompassed a large enough area for me to land on the ground safely. To far, the dust wouldn't properly connect. To close, the affected area would be to small to matter. The trees that were getting dangerously close we're going to be a problem to.

I waited to break through the tree canopy, gripping _Warmaker_ in quiet anticipation. _'Please God show me Mercy if I am to die today, and graciously guide me to the peace I do not deserve.'_ I hoped I didn't die from timing this wrong and Grimm attacking me in my rage filled pain. Dear God, Adolf was right. I have anger issues, don't I?

My less than pleasant thoughts were thankfully interrupted by me breaking the blanket of leaves. The dust round shot out as soon as I saw ground, multiple areas kicking up dirt as the pellets impacted. A purple haze started surrounding the areas of impact before gaining a more thick, smoky appearance. The minute I made contact with the gravity field, I felt myself being pushed and pulled by the force of the fall and the gravity field fighting for control. This went on for a few more seconds before the field slowly dissipated, and I felt actual gravity take hold again. This was the second time in my life that I appreciate the dirt that was in my lenses. I got on my knees and looked around the area, seeing only trees. Standing up, I pushed a button on the side of my helm and my comms came to life, "Oobleck, are you there?"

I waited a minute and tried again, "I repeat, Oobleck are you-"

"YES! Yes I am, I was just distracted by the coffee machine. We've run out of milk for the coffee! HowamIsupposedtoenjoythedelicioustasteofpowercaffeinebringsnow!" I blinked a couple times before shaking my head, both impressed and confused at the speed he spoke just now. Was the caffeine he enjoyed so much laced with the dust used in jets? Because I'm starting to notice the amount of speed the man has with coffee. What if _I_ drank this special brew of his? Shaking my head once more, I expelled the thought from my mind for the time being.

"Oobleck, just tell me where the damned beast is." I was already regretting giving him my comm signal. God help me if he freaks out about coffee for this entire ordeal.

"AH, YES! Head Northwest of your current location. The Wikitikw seems to be preoccupied with a pair of Ursa at the moment, but I fear they will prove substantially weak compared to the Grimm and perish." I heard a sharp intake of breath before a quiet sip followed that, "Oh my."

I began walking Northwest as instructed, "Oobleck, has something happened?" I put my haste in my step, almost at a jog by this point.

"There are several students nearby. Three females, two males," I was at a full on Sprint now, praying to God that I would make it on time to save the children. I can't see another child lose their life. "You must hurry! If they are caught they will likely-"

I heard a crash on the other end of the connection, and a small gasp from Oobleck. "Aha! Free at last to fight you, Barty!" I couldn't help but groan at the sound of the possible walrus faunas' voice, "You thought me trapped behind a simple closet door? I laugh at this insult!"

"Peter! How did you escape?!"

"Have I never told you of my patented Port Family Lockpicking Technique?" I heard a hearty laugh getting ever closer to the source of me and Oobleck's communication.

"Um, I'll contact you again soon, Colonel. I must deal with Peter real fast." I heard a shifting sound and a battle cry before the line cut off.

Is this what life at this school would be like, constant irritations and nonsensical actions? And some people ignore it like it's an everyday occurrence! It's like they live in a cartoon world or something! What the hell is wrong with them?!

No…

The real question I should be asking is what the hell is wrong with the kingdom of Vale...

* * *

 **-?-**

Pain.

That's all I felt as the little beings continued attacking me. Their attacks chipped away at my flesh and I couldn't help but scream in anguish and desperation. Desperation for the hunger to stop. For the little ones to die. To kill the man with glass eyes that caused the hunger.

The dark ones were disappearing as I tore away their flesh. Their rancid, bitter flesh. And the little creatures that ran in the forest were to small. I needed something… bigger. Juicer. Tenderer.

I smiled, or tried to as my lipless mouth tore even more from the action. The event seemed to disgust the little ones, the yellow one most of all. Good. They were better prey when they fought back.

"Sooooo gross. I am _not_ touching that thing." The yellow one spoke with disgust, small amounts of fear tinged with the words. It despised me. That mad me angry. How dare they judge me!

I was a survivor! A natural born predator! A killer of these pathetic insects! They were annoyances! Arrogant pests! _**Food**_! The black one seemed to notice my rage as the green and yellow one bickered about 'partners'. They were trying to confuse me! Lure me into a trap!

I screamed with pure rage and hunger. Yes. Hunger. These little ones would do nicely as my… _**appetizer**_.

* * *

 **-C. Astali-**

 _'Come on, come on! Move faster you damn fool!'_

Seems as though time was against me, in a sense, after all. 49 and slowing down already. What a damned old bastard I was, after this fight I may as well us a walker to help me around. Or a cane like Layton. But his case was different rather than my old, worn body. He _needed_ that cane, unlike me at the moment. Is this what a Midlife Crisis is like? Dear God, I never thought I would get _this_ old.

I stopped thinking about my age after a particularly loud screech came from my right. On instinct alone, I brought _Warmaker_ up and began advancing in that direction the sound came from. It didn't sound to far away, either. It was likely engaged in combat with some of the students Oobleck mentioned earlier, if the loud blasts told me anything. That made me advance as fast as I could to the clearing.

When I came through I immediately fired a shell of gravity at the beast, the pellets and dust connecting and pushing the surprised beast away from the children it was battling. The three students looked over at me in astonishment before one with blonde hair gave me a thumbs up. I nodded back before ejecting the gravity mag and put in a incendiary one.

The Wikitikiw was largely known, in Atlas anyway, to have a weakness to fire, it was one of the main reason we had the Fire Brigades. The Wikitikiw problem wasn't going away before them. And it clearly wasn't going away now, unless my eyes were deceiving me.

The Grimm, who was not only missing an eye but was also pissed off, roared at me in a challenge. I responded with a fiery shotgun shell.

The beast screamed in pain as it threw itself on the ground and began thrashing about, trying to put out the fire somehow. I sighed, hoping that would at least buy some time for me and the children to look for and regroup with any other students within the vicinity.

"Students! Retreat into the woods! We must make distance with the beast while-" A sudden, powerful force crashed into my side as I was launched across the clearing. The minute I hit the ground, a clawed hand grabbed me and smashed me into the ground several times before hurling me into a tree.

My vision became slightly spotty on impact, and I could already feel some internal bleeding and a couple of broken ribs. An amateur mistake to let my guard and Aura down, but that wasn't it. This Grimm was different, and stronger than an Chief Wikitikiw. It didn't have smoke coming from it's wounds either. Why was this one so different? That's when it hit me.

Literally.

It's fist smashed into my torso, my aura going up at the last second to absorb most of the hit. _Warmaker_ was lost in the first hit, the strap snapping and sending it God knows where. That only left _Peacemonger_.

As the monster was about to raise it's fist for another blow, I unsheathed my trusty blade and stabbed it into its wrist. It wailed in pain as it brought its hand back, my hands clutching my weapon as I went up with it. Taking the blade out, I attempted a slash at the creatures eye, as the other one was noticeably damaged. It forcefully pushed me away and put some distance between us. As I landed on my feet, getting into a defending position. As I waited, I observed the creature.

It still had burning patches on its body, and multiple gashes and wounds. Its form was hunched over and was giving me a look of both rage and… fascination? That's when it started shuddering.

The arm and leg skin started splitting as the muscles seemed to expand, and its organs started popping like balloons. The bony arm began to lengthen and get bigger as the far more muscular arm started to have bone spikes shoot out. The head the least amount of change, with its getting longer and more jagged, and the mask starting to crack. The sight was disturbing to watch.

One of the Wikitikiw's arms latched onto a tree, supporting itself as it stood. The beast wobbled for a minute before standing at its full height, easily going past the trees here.

I began to back off, looking behind me to see the three students still there, watching with a mix of horror and concern. "Didn't I tell you three to leave?!" I shouted, letting my irritation show.

The blonde one, Xiao Long if I remembered correctly, answered first, "We thought you had it handled, so we stayed to see what would happen!" That was always a stupid answer to give a trained huntsman, that you wanted to basically see what a professional killer of Grimm was like in action. You can't watch if the chance of you dying is usually a 70% average.

"Does it look like I have this under control?!"

This time the green haired one responded, "Do you?" Was that an actual question, or was he trying to be a pain in the arse?

Before I could respond, a far more fierce, challenging screech came from the beast. I turned and ran the minute I saw the monster using its arms to catapult itself towards me. The started moving my hands and arms about to tell the students to run. I saw _Warmonger_ still intact, minus the broken strap, still in one piece and made a dash towards it.

Sliding to grab it, I narrowly dodged a overhead strike. Turning as I got a hold of the shotgun, I pushed a button near the stock and folded the barrel towards the side of the weapon. A handle shot out of the barreless bottom and the stock shifted into a axehead. "Go! I'll hold the creature back for as long as I can!" The creature backed away as my weapon changed gazing upon me with caution, while I held the axe at my side. My hands squeezed the handle as my helmets amplified hearing heard retreating footsteps, before they disappeared.

No more distractions, it seemed.

I got into position to charge, the beast seeming to do so with a look of pure joy in its face. "No more holding back, Astali. This is probably going to be the one time I'll be able to let loose in the next couple of years." I whispered to myself, the idea of a quiet teaching life sounding oddly pleasant to me. No time to think on that now, though. I have a monster to slay.

No more distractions. No more holding back. Just me, my axe, and a target.

The monster and I yelled as we both charged at each other, the sound emanating throughout the forest. For everyone to hear.

* * *

 **I don't think I did really good with the action sequences near the end of this chapter. Then again, I never really had confidence over the fighting that will likely happen throughout this story. Expect the worst outcome with that.**

 **So, if anyone has any feedback on this chapter, don't be a stranger to dropping a review. It will only help in me becoming a better writer and this becoming a more enjoyable story to read.**

 **And remember, have a wonderful day, everyone!**


	11. Through Terror's Eyes

**I really enjoyed writing this short little chapter, and this is also the full introduction of Gryre Bealdor, the main big bad for the next arc in _The_** _ **Passing of War**_ **. I hope you like him. Also, Chapter Two, like One, has been updated and revamped into a much better chapter that it was before. So go on, Read it my friends!**

 **Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.**

* * *

 **8 Sextilis, 3176 PD -G. Bealdor-**

"Fifty-Four?" I gestured for the female Pawn's attention, who came as eagerly as was expected, and waited for my command with the usual enthusiasm of herself. She was my favorite Pawn, even though she was only eighteen, due to her yearning to appease me in my requests. She was one of the few Pawns that were not only allowed into my abode, but to not have to wear the sacks like the others. Her hair chin length and curly, with the coloring being in the chestnut range, framing her soft features and brilliant sapphire eyes. She wore the dress most female Pawns wore within the grounds of my estate, a blue blouse and a knee length, white skirt over black stockings and bar shoes. Even the lowliest Pawns get a small dosage of the high fashion, but only a small dosage. "Would you be a dear and retrieve more Strousshelm Wine for our guests?" She nodded, but waited, seeming to expect more from the request. I waved her off, her skipping in the direction of the cellar, as my body shifted back to the attention of my most 'honored' guests. One of which was staring back at me in amusement.

"Why, Gryre, I didn't think you were so attracted to such young ladies." Her voice seemed to articulate her words with sadistic glee, her eyes having a literal fire behind them with the joy of someone so unrefined in trying to drive a stake of guilt or embarrassment into someones heart. Sadly for her, I have none of those things.

My ornate chalice was at my lips as she awaited my reaction, the sweet yet metallic taste of my red wine flowing into my mouth, as I imagined all the possible ways to kill young Cinder. Perhaps make her see everyone abandoning her as I gut her with _Jack_? No, to simple. Put a cloth bag over her head and throw her into the ocean? Wouldn't satisfy me enough. Perhaps make her hang herself and sleep to the sounds of her breathless pleas for help? While it does puts a smile on my face, I already have someone else in mind for that. For now, I shall bide my time with the unavoidable death that she will be condemned to. Back to the matter at hand however…

Removing the chalice from my lips, letting the taste soothe my highly psychotic thoughts to a more mild level, "Your gall comment is hypocritical, young Cinder. The fact your insinuations are stretching as far as my mere dialogue with a servant of mine, who is of lower blood mind you, is irrevocable prove that you are, once more, amusing me like the sadistic and bratty jester I see you as." My mouth shifted into a grin as fire seemed to dance around her eyes, and her to followers seemed to have differing reactions.

The beautiful Sustrai seemed to tense at her masters anger, but looked ready to support in whatever assault she could possibly attempt against me. The idiotic Mercury was so far induced in the luxurious food I provided to them that he could hardly notice the influx of heat that was likely near him. Or he just could simply care less of the predicament he could be positioned in. Before Cinder could hurl a fireball that had been forming during my period of observation, my aura flared outwards in its dull yellow color.

" _ **Stop**_."

Her body tensed up as my eyes widened with the activation of my semblance, as a small hint of fear seemed to grasp her for a split second, before it was replaced by fury once more. " _ **Stay Seated**_." Emerald and Mercury, who seemed to finally realize the potentially disastrous situation he was in the middle of, slammed back into their chairs, yelping in surprise and pain. " _ **You Both May Continue Your Meals Now**_." And that they did.

I walked around the table slowly, my borderline stalking earning glares from my guests, before stopping myself in front of Cinders tense and motionless body, still standing and poised to fling her diminishing fireball. Tilting my head in analysis of her posture, I began to move her arms, one of which no longer had a flame hovering with its palm, to be clasped in front of her body. I straightened her back as well, and positioned her legs closer together. Stepping away from her, I observed my model with approval. "Your posture was bothering me while you sat there, insulting your host may I point out, and in the heat of your assault upon me for my admittedly pitiful insult, I took it upon myself to correct it and make you look like the elegant lady that you dress as." I moved back to my seat with the dining hall and sat back down upon my throne, "Now, _**Sit, And Tell Me Your Current Plans For Getting The Black Queen Virus Onto The Beacon Servers**_." And she did just that, the plan to smuggle themselves in under the bravado of Haven students and, during some school event during the visit, sneak into the CCT Tower and install Watts' little program. How simple, and disappointing to say matter of factly. It hurt even more that Salem didn't divulge this to me. I would have to ask here the purpose of her choosing to retain this information from me in our next convocation.

" _ **Forget That I Asked You This Question And Return To Your Base Of Operations Under The Pretense That You Had An Enjoyable Time Here**_."

The three of them stood up and left as simple as the command was, and I soon felt my eyes return to normal. Growling, I began to stand up before snapping my fingers twice. Footsteps sounded behind me as a bottle of Strousshelm was placed within my outstretched hand. "You may return to your quarters for the rest of the day, Fifty-Four." Turning, I glimpsed a quick curtsy before she began skipping in the opposite direction of her arrival. Watching her for a matter of seconds, my eyelids shut as I called out for Bishop in my mind, ' _Bishop._ "

The response was immediate. " _Yes, Ser?_ "

' _Meet me in my study as soon as you are available. We have information to go over before my departure for Beacon_.'

" _Of course, Ser. I will arrive there shortly_."

I began walking down the corridors of my estate, passing multiple painting and sculptures of long dead men and women. Passing my one of my favorites, an ultra realistic image of the slaughter of the Pinkertons and their company town, brought back memories to my first kill, which was the aforementioned slaughter.

Something I would soon be doing to everyone at Beacon Academy very soon.

At that thought, I let my mild psychopathy go as high as I wanted. A series of laughter emanated from me, echoing and bouncing about the corridors of my ever so lavish abode.

As my laughter continued, I thought only one, small thing. And that was going to be how I was going to kill everyone at that school.

* * *

 **So, a couple of things to tell and ask my people. First, My break in between the last chapter and the admittedly small chapter you just read (hopefully) is because I was writing out a better outline than the one I wrote before, and because I have made a legitimate world surrounding this story and the world of Remnant it encompasses. Which leads into the next thing that I'm about to tell you. Second, as I'm sure you've noticed, I've made a calendar for the world (a thing I'm still waiting for in the actual show), and leads into a question: Would you guys be interested if I replaced the less interesting, in my opinion, WOR chapter covering the concept of Grimm Evolution with better worldbuilding one on the establishment of the Discovery Calendar (There's a reason it's called that name)?**

 **Other than that, tell me your opinion on Gryre and his seemingly overpowered semblance (and others if you know what I'm talking about), and give any constructive criticisms on this chapter. It will only make me improve as a writer, and make a better, more enjoyable story for all of you to read.**

 **And as always everyone, have a wonderful day!**

 **P.S. How do you sign a story up to be beta'd?**


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